Pros:

Cons:

We always applaud ambition and creativity in gaming. Nowadays we see far too little of either and when someone tries to break out of the mold it tends to catch our attention. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl definitely caught our attention. Yes, it took some time to finally reach our hands, but now that we've played the game it's easy to understand what took so long. S:SoC is a wildly ambitious title. Unfortunately, ambition alone does not make a game great.

It's very tempting to say S:SoC is "Oblivion with guns," but that wouldn't be accurate. GSC Gameworld's offering does feature an open expanse of land for you to explore, but it's not nearly as vast as what a true roleplaying game like Oblivion offers. Still, it's huge when compared to other more traditional shooters that feature linear paths. What we found the most appealing about the overall design of S:SoC is how effectively it ties into the storyline.

We have no idea what this is, but we know that it's ugly.

Welcome to the Wasteland

We all know about the disaster in Chernobyl, but in the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., that disastrous event was only the beginning. As the story goes, a second meltdown occurs in 2006 and a 30-kilometer area around the reactor is evacuated and quarantined, leaving behind a virtual ghost town. Not long after this reports of wondrous artifacts surface, and where do these artifacts come from? Take a guess. As a result all sorts of folks descend upon the nuclear wasteland in search of these mysterious and valuable baubles. These scavengers are known as stalkers.

Your character steps into this world six years after the second meltdown. Not only are you in the middle of a radioactive killing field, but you've also got amnesia. Fortunately, there are a handful of people willing to help you get back on your feet and find out who you really are. Unfortunately, these aren't the kind of people who give away something for nothing. Thus you set off on a journey, the length of which will easily rival the playtime of many role-playing games.

A trader is your first contact. You'll start far away from the Chernobyl reactor in Pripyat. It's here where you'll get a first-hand taste of how hostile the environment you're in really is. Strange anomalies are scattered throughout the landscape. These radioactive phenomenon are definitely bad for your health. Some will appear as distortions in the air, others will look like spinning vortexes of wind, while others will look like puddles of sludge or a concentration of lightening. They will all hurt you in their own unique way so you'll want to steer clear.